San Francisco Voted for Progressive Policies and Witness the Result

Progressive policies always sound good, at least to people with no experience in the real world. 'Traumatized' residents of wealthy San Francisco neighborhood resort to using CHICKEN WIRE to protect their homes against intruders as crime spirals - with even 'hard-core natives' feeling so unsafe they want to move | Daily Mail Online

Citizens in a residential area of San Francisco are bolstering their homes with chicken wire in a bid to keep out intruders.

Happening in the city's Richmond District, the safety measures come amid a recent jump in burglaries, robberies, and homicides in the affluent neighborhood.

They were shocked to discover that they were not protected by their zip code. When the state of California, and the City of San Francisco, voted for soft-on-crime measures, they should have expected an increase in crime. Everyone else did.

The people and the businesses in Richmond are complaining about an increase in crime, and a decrease in policing. No mention is made of the fact that in 2020 San Francisco "defunded" the police (county and city) to the tune of $120 million.

San Francisco was among cities across the country that saw some crimes increase in 2020 compared to 2019. Homicides increased by 20% that year compared to 2019, and by 17% in 2021 compared to 2020. While crimes such as rape and robbery decreased in 2020, burglaries increased by 47% in 2020 when compared to the three previous years, data complied by SFGate shows.

Really, it had nothing to do with defunding and vilifying police. It was part of a national trend, that's all. All the Blue Cities were defunding and vilifying police, and the fact that they all saw an increase in crime was just a coincidence, nothing more. Nothing to see here. Move along. </sarcasm>

If you make something less expensive, you will see more of it, and defund-the-police policies made crime less expensive/less risky to the criminals. The Progressives were shocked to discover more crime.

There is more, click thru. There are even some photos of the more minor mayhem.

I'm Shocked That Deep Blue San Francisco Has a 911 Problem

Okay, so I'm not shocked. San Francisco’s 911 Response Times at a Low Point

San Francisco actually has two problems. The first is answering 911 calls.

According to the Department of Emergency Management, San Francisco's 911 call dispatchers answered just 72 percent of calls within 15 seconds in October, the latest month available. That's the lowest share of any month in the last six years, and well short of the department's goal to answer 95 percent of calls in 15 seconds or fewer.

Staffing is not up to the levels required, which is causing people to burn out, due to mandatory overtime. The bureaucratic hiring practice moves at a glacial pace, and so they can't hire people to cover retirement and people just quitting due to burn out. They did raise pay some, but there is no indication if that is enough. I guess only time will tell.

The second problem that San Francisco has, in relation to 911 calls, is getting officers to the scene of a "Priority A" incident.

The slowdown in responses has contributed to broader delays San Franciscans face when trying to get help during emergency situations. The city's typical response time to "Priority A" incidents — defined as the most urgent and serious events, like assaults-in-progress — is slower than it's been at any point in the last eight years, increasing from about 6.5 minutes in January 2016 to nearly nine minutes this November.

Now this is the media, so there is no mention of any "defund the police" initiatives in San Francisco over the past few years. I'm sure there were calls to do exactly that, but I'm not sure if anything was done. And this is a story about the 911 call center, so police are really mentioned only in passing.

I will just say that a lot of really bad things can happen in 9 minutes, and that assumes that you, or someone, can call 911 before bad things start happening. If your only plan is to "call 911 and wait to be rescued," you might want to consider having a "Plan B."

San Francisco - The Hellhole That Was a Beautiful City

Andrea Widburg at American Thinker is a native of the City of San Francisco, but not a resident of San Francisco. I would be from there too, given the current state of the city. San Francisco schadenfreude.

I grew up in San Francisco and lived just north of it for many years. Overall, I spent two-thirds of my life in or near the city. I know it well and remember it when it didn’t have a skyline dominated by Manhattan-esque skyscrapers. Even with those skyscrapers, though, one of the loveliest views in the world is driving south through the Robin Williams tunnel and suddenly seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay, and the San Francisco skyline spread before you. Dig a little deeper into the city, though, and it’s a hellhole…which is exactly what its citizens deserve because it’s precisely what they voted for.

Click thru for some history, and some current events, including details on an antisemitic attack on a business.

Looking at these Instagram posts, I have to believe that the store owner voted for candidates that authorized the policies that turned so many parts of San Francisco into a filthy, poop-plastered, drug-addled, crime-ridden, antisemitic mess. So, while I’m very sorry that the store suffered as it did, I’m not chipping in to help, even for ice cream.

Even as bad as things have gotten, the Left is not ready to admit they were wrong about anything.

Retail Crime Drives Nike Out of Portland

If you want to be able to buy things, you need to have stores, unless you want to believe that we should order everything from Amazon. That is something I reject. Nike is permanently closing this massive factory store for a scary reason

Pacific Northwest city Portland, Ore., has also seen petty theft and shoplifting affect stores' bottom line. Its very own Nike has decided to permanently close its large factory store as it sees theft cut into its profits.

Society is built on security. Without security stores will close. Businesses will close if they can't keep their employees safe. The Blue Cities, like Portland, have decided that enforcing the law is mean. And the result should surprise no one.

The store closed in 2022 after local news station KGW-TV reported "brazen" thefts had been "stealing armloads of Nike merchandise and walking out the front door with no fear of being stopped."

Nike had the 2nd highest reported incidence of shoplifting since 2019 at 437 cases. Second only to Target's reported 650 cases. Businesses cannot operate under those circumstances indefinitely.

Portland isn't alone, of course. 2 dozen retailers have abandoned San Fracisco.

About two dozen stores have announced plans to vacate San Francisco as its crime issues remain unresolved, retail crime has been a hot topic that's proven difficult to solve. Some such retailers, which include Old Navy, Banana Republic, Crate & Barrel, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, Anthropologie and Office Depot, have issued statements explaining inventory shrink and other foot traffic patterns made business in the area untenable.

The result is that sales tax revenue in San Francisco is down 25% from the first quarter of 2019 to 2023.

San Francisco Becomes so Unsafe Federal Workers Told to Stay Home

It is getting hard, even for the Leftists to ignore the fruits of their policies. Federal workers in S.F. told to work from home due to nearby crime

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advised hundreds of employees in San Francisco to work remotely for the foreseeable future due to public safety concerns outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on Seventh Street.

The imposing, 18-story tower on the corner of Seventh and Mission streets houses various federal agencies, including HHS, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the office of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The area is also home to one of the city’s most brazen open-air drug markets, where dozens of dealers and users congregate on a daily basis.

There are more details, like not all federal agencies in the building have issued that directive.

Hat tip to Moonbattery: San Francisco Uninhabitable for Federal Workers.

As San Francisco enters end stage liberalism, the mess is piled so deep that Democrats can’t avoid stepping in what they created.

San Francisco Has Morphed into East Germany

Don't question our authority. Do what we tell you. Snitch on your neighbors. Don't ask questions. If it isn't a fascist state, it is a cult. In many ways those tactics are indistinguishable from the tactics employed in East Germany. Conform or we will crush you.

That's always the answer. You're a racist, you're a bigot, you're - you know - anti-LGBTQ. It's the ad hominem attack if you say anything that veers from the furthest Left outreaches of the Democratic Party, which dominates the discourse in San Francisco.

The focus of the interview concentrates on school closures, but over all it is an indictment of the fascists (from the Left) reliance on name-calling. Name-calling works, because a lot of people (fewer than a couple of years ago) are terrified of being called a racist, or whatever smear the Left is throwing around about a particular topic.

The minute you question - and for whatever reason - lockdown during COVID was the policy of the Far Left, even though it was harmful to the working class, to poor children, it was harmful to the most vulnerable they claimed to be protecting. If you questioned it, because it was a policy of the Far Left, you were vilified.

Jennifer Sey was formerly an executive at Levis, she dared to question one of the Far Left maxims: Schools Must Be Closed During COVID. Something that today most people recognize was a horrible idea. At the time, she was branded a racist for wanting the public schools open. Schools that her children attended, while most of the complainers/name-callers either didn't have children, or were sending their children to wickedly expensive private schools.

But that isn't the ONLY issue. Any deviation from pure acceptance of the Far Left, and you are subjected to ad hominem attacks. You're an "Ist" of a "Phobe" or whatever the slur of the day was.

This is the California Insider video Former Resident: Why San Francisco is on the brink of losing its unique culture? | Jennifer Sey. It is a 36 minute video, so plan accordingly.

Dave Chappelle Says San Francisco Has Become 'Gotham'

Gotham City without Batman is never a good place. In surprise show, Dave Chappelle tells San Francisco audience they 'need a Batman'

Well it is clear that the powers-that-be are not interested in maintaining law and order.

During the show, he said San Francisco has become "half 'Glee,' half zombie movie," and told the audience that they and the city "need a Batman."

The Continuing Decline of San Francisco

Union Square will be a ghost-town, or it will completely devoted to homeless camps and drug use. T-Mobile becomes San Francisco's latest retail casualty as phone carrier shutters flagship store | Fox Business

T-Mobile’s two-story flagship location in San Francisco’s Union Square neighborhood was permanently shuttered, with a note now directing customers to instead visit two other locations in the city, according to the San Francisco Business Times.

One of my favorite SF restaurants was on Union Square, but it closed MANY years ago.

The article lists other stores in and around Union Square that have closed recently, or announced that they will be closing. One of those stores closing was Nordstrom.

A spokesperson for a mall where one of the Nordstrom shops is located told the outlet that "a growing number of retailers and businesses are leaving the area due to the unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees, coupled with the fact that these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area."

I don't see anything changing in California for the foreseeable future. Propositions have changed the law, or rather eliminated the law in many cases, and the people of that state will be stuck dealing with crime as a result. I may need to rewatch Escape from LA.

The Continuing Decline of San Francisco

Organized Retail Crime, safety, and drug use are all cited as reasons for the decline in retail. Nordstrom shuts down BOTH stores in crime-ridden San Francisco - as Target locks entire product range behind security glass and Whole Foods store is shuttered | Daily Mail Online

That's right, not even Left-wing Whole Foods can operate a store in San Francisco.

Nordstrom is closing two store, its Westfield Mall location and its Nordstrom Rack location. Westfield Mall or Westfield Center is located in San Francisco's Union Square. The Nordstrom Rack is located across the street.

Target is fighting the organized retail theft by making shopping more difficult, but at least still possible.

Remaining stores like Target have been reduced to locking up their entire stock behind glass to deter shoplifters.

Whole Foods, the Leftist company that they are, decided that they needed to open a store in the Tenderloin.

Organic food giant Whole Foods opened a new 'flagship' location at Trinity Place in the city's Tenderloin District in March 2022, hoping to revitalize footfall after two years of draconian COVID-19 restrictions severely impacted businesses in the area.

But a Whole Foods spokesperson declared the store closed down due to safety concerns for its staff. 'We are closing our Trinity location only for the time being,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'If we feel we can ensure the safety of our team members in the store, we will evaluate a reopening of our Trinity location.'

The company cited deteriorating street conditions around drug use and crime near the store as the driving factors behind the closure.

Drug use in the Tenderloin? Color me shocked.

Now the city can cite statistics about how "Crime is Down," but these fall under the heading of Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

Despite official reports that San Francisco's crime rate is on the way down, one former prosecutor said this month that the city's liberal district attorney's decision not to prosecute many crimes skewed those numbers.

It's not a crime unless the DA says it is.

But then this is exactly what the people of SF keep voting for.

The hat tip goes to Animal Magnetism: Animal’s Daily San Franmeltdown News.

I’ve pretty much stopped wondering how far down the Left Coast can go. I think things will pretty much have to descend to the Medieval period before anyone can turn it around; the cognitive dissonance of California voters (remember what it means when you try the same thing over and over and expect different results?) is just sunk in too deep.

Self-defense May Actually Be Legal in San Francisco

All the usual suspects have their knickers in a twist. Rally held to remember Banko Brown — D.A. declines to files charges against armed Walgreens guard

A homeless trans man was shot and killed by an armed guard in Walgreens. The guard was arrested, but then released.

More than a hundred activists gathered on Market near Powell, at the Walgreens where Brown was shot dead. There, they blocked access on the sidewalk, spoke out, and demanded change from Walgreens and from the city.

They didn't ask why no charges were filed, they are sure that it is discrimination, or something.

The man accused of shooting Brown, Michael-Earl Wayne Anthony, 33, who was in jail and expected to be formally charged with homicide on Tuesday, was unexpectedly released from jail on Monday. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office declined to file charges. Meanwhile, KTVU has learned SFPD is looking at a self-defense claim.

The liberals in SF won't stand for that. Not only should the homeless be able to steal anything they want, they should be able to attack people with impunity. Or something. And whatever the Libs in SF think, self-defense is a human-right.

Not Even Whole Foods Can Survive the Liberal Polices of San Fran.

I'm shocked that Whole Foods can't survive in San Francisco. Okay, I'm not shocked at all. Whole Foods, libs' fave store wrecked by libs' fave policies

The store had been open a little more than a year. The geniuses in charge of Whole Foods opened the store across the strett from a city-supervised, drug consumption site. What could possibly go wrong?

The store already reduced hours last fall over crime concerns — high levels of shoplifting and drug addicts who turned its bathrooms into shooting galleries.

Now management is fully closing it out of concerns that workers are no longer safe.

This is The Comments Section with Brett Cooper video There Is A WHOLE Lot Of Crime In San Francisco. It's an 8 and a half minute video, so grab a coffee.

Self-defense Legal in San Francisco, and the DA HATES That

The process is the punishment. Man acquitted in San Francisco shooting after being jailed more than a year awaiting trial - CBS San Francisco

A jury in San Francisco acquitted a man who had been in custody for more than a year on an attempted murder charge, finding he was defending himself and his girlfriend when he shot a man who had assaulted him, authorities said Thursday.

Mario Ramirez had spent the last year in jail awaiting trial, nearly nine months past a constitutionally-mandated trial deadline due to the extreme trial backlog in San Francisco Superior Court, according to a press statement from the San Francisco Public Defender's Office.

Case as it has been explained in the press was clearly self-defense. The couple did everything to avoid the guy who got shot - who admitted being on methamphetamine - assaulted the shooter earlier in the day. The couple didn't go home for hours, because the assailant knew where they lived, and they were hoping to avoid him.

He did get convicted of parole violations and a gun charge. I suppose the DA thought that they would convict him on anything, because he is bad, or something.

The Left Wants People Fired for Beliefs

But they are shocked - and outraged - when people are fired for beliefs. That is when it is a Leftist belief that got someone fired. San Francisco’s Pizza Squared fires employee who denied police officers service

A Pizza Squared employee told a group of officers that they were not welcome in the establishment. This was of course over Tyre Nichols - an incident that didn't happen in San Francisco.

Pizza Squared later fired the rogue employee, who the restaurant said was a trainee only on his third day of work.

“When our shift manager told us about the incident after it happened, we expressly told him we didn’t share his views & that he was out of line. He was fired at the end of the day,” Pizza Squared said on Twitter.

This isn't the first time a Leftist has been fired. (Leon has a couple of receipts on that.) But they are always surprised and sad. "I said I would let people who support Trump die, and the hospital fired me!"

If you work for a company - that is, you do NOT own the company - you do not get to set policy. If you think you do, you should expect to be fired.

This is Ruined Leon's video Pizza Worker Fired For Abolishing The Police

Enabling Drug Addicts in San Francisco

I had a post yesterday in which I mentioned "safe spaces" to do drugs. (Hint: there is no safe way to do that.) Here is more on that. Native San Franciscan describes 'dystopia' on trip to downtown bar: 'I felt scared' | Fox News

The first part of the article is a description of the chaos that reigns in a once beautiful city. (It really was a beautiful city.)

Here is a bit that caught my attention.

Breed and Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced last week they planned to introduce a bill that would make way for the opening of "Overdose Prevention Sites" in the city, allowing individuals to use heavy drugs like heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl in a safe and supervised environment where there would be access to wraparound services for addiction, according to NBC Bay Area. The measure would need to be enacted by the Board of Supervisors.

Former drug dealer–turned-activist Ricci Wynne recently spoke out against harm reduction policies and potential safe consumption sites in San Francisco on "Jesse Watters Primetime."

"[It's] going to make the problem worse," he said. "It's already created such a buzz that people are coming here to San Francisco in droves for what I like to call druggy tourism. They come here because they know the consequences are minuscule if any, and they can come here [and] just use openly."

Making it easy for people to be addicted to drugs is not compassion. Making it easier for an addict to stay addicted is not compassion.

Enabling Addiction is NOT Compassion

Giving people what they want is not always what is good for them. San Francisco Bay Area mother of fentanyl user warns city is enabling son's drug use | Fox News

"My son, who is addicted to fentanyl and living on the streets of San Francisco, has told me that ... San Francisco is like hell because you can get everything that you want to stay addicted very, very easily and there's no pressure to get well," Jacqui Berlinn told Fox News.

But that is what liberal policies are all about. A "safe space" to do drugs doesn't acknowledge the fact that drugs are not safe.

Berlinn's 31-year-old son has been battling addiction and homelessness in different forms for years and has attempted rehabilitation several times. However, San Francisco's progressive policies soften the consequences for drug user and sellers, harming both the city and users alike, according to Berlinn.

Go read the whole thing. She is trying to convince the city to change course. I don't think she will have much luck.

The Only Security They Have Is What They Provide Themselves

Leftists getting mugged by reality is not as entertaining as you might think. San Franciscans arm themselves to walk to work past drug clinics | The Post Millennial

In their on-going efforts to help the poor, homeless drug-addicts, the city of San Francisco is screwing over everyone else.

In June, the SOMA RISE Center, [run by HealthRight 360,] a drug sobering facility, opened in northeast San Francisco and attracted dangerous drug-addicted vagabonds to the area, causing residents of the once peaceful neighborhood to walk with weapons such as baseball bats and tasers for self defense.

Now I am usually armed for my own self-defense, so I see nothing wrong with that. (When seconds count, police are only minutes away.) What I find amusing is that Leftists who for generations looked down their noses at anyone who brought up self-defense, are suddenly confronted by the reality that the System cannot protect you. They are suddenly looking for options to defend themselves.

And in this case, I would say, that "The System" in the form of San Francisco city hall, is actively making their lives more dangerous.

The "sobering center" is a safe place for drug-addicts to come down off a high. Couple that with San Francisco's "it's perfectly OK to do drugs in public" attitude, and you have people getting high, all over the neighborhood. Sometimes they go to the sobering center. Sometimes they pass out on the sidewalk.

Bill, another local, said that since the location opened "'Every morning it's a roulette. When you show up at your office, are there going to be 10 people passed out in front of your building? Are they going to be violent? This was never a problem before HealthRight 360 moved in."

One businessman estimates that he has lost $100,000 worth of business because his (former) customers are staying away.

My guess is that some of the people impacted, like that businessman, will abandon the city like so many others are doing. And is it really helping addicts by facilitating their addictions?

For thoughts on the whole way we deal with addicts and the homeless, see Seattle Is Dying from a news organization in Seattle. They have a similar set of problems as those being visited on San Francisco, for the same reason: insane policies of the Left.

Is this situation really what the voters in San Francisco want? Who are the politicians serving? I know homelessness and drug addictions are complex problems, but this policy seems insane.

Progressive Gets Mugged by Reality

The Reality that lawlessness is not a good way to live. CEO says San Francisco is a 'city of chaos' where retail workers are 'terrified'

The progressive CEO of a clothing store chain announced yesterday that he would be closing the San Francisco store because of the frequent break ins by gangs of thieves. Davis Smith who runs the active-wear chain Cotopaxi, described San Francisco as a “city of chaos” and one in which his retail workers are “terrified.” He also described how practical efforts to deal with the problems, such as private security, don’t help because the thieves have learned they won’t be physically stopped or arrested.

And so the workers are terrified, the businesses are losing money, and the system starts to collapse around the edges.

When businesses have to beg the city to stop criminals from robbing them on a weekly basis, it’s just not sustainable. Until some sort of order is restored running a business just doesn’t make sense.

This perfectly captures Hobbes' state of war. When there is no force maintaining law and order, business, commerce, research, and more all come to a grinding halt. You can't run a business if you can't keep employees from quitting due to fear. You can't run a business if everything you work for can be stolen in an instant by a gang of drug-addicts looking for money to supply their next fix. You can't have civilization without security.

In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society, and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

This is not a new concept. The Leviathan was published in 1651. That is 371 years ago. But somehow people in the 21st Century are unclear on the idea of law and order as being a bedrock of civilization.

You Are Not Protected By Your Zip Code

Neighbors were "shocked" to discover that they do in fact live in The Real World™. EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: 6 men ambushed in armed robbery, shooting in San Francisco's Mission District - ABC7 San Francisco

Residents in the area say they're horrified by the crime's brazen nature.

They thought that crime only happened in "other kinds of areas" to "other kinds of people." Or something.

The crime? Armed robbery.

While some of the victims huddled against a wall or put their hands up, one victim in yellow tried to fight back. One suspect threatened to shoot and when another victim did not back away, a shot can be heard. That victim is seen grabbing his leg and hobbling away.

Yet they seem oddly uncertain as to why crime is so out of control.

"It is horrifying what's happening in SF," said a woman who has lived nearby for 14 years. "San Francisco has changed in recent years. My kids had to leave the city. They don't want to raise kids in a place that's so scary."

Police have arrested people in the crime, but my bet is that by the time you read this, they will have been released from jail, because keeping violent offenders in jail is unfair.

If all you did was read this "news article" the context of what is going on the large cities would be a mystery. There is no mention of bail in San Francisco, and no mention of crime rates. No mention of the decriminalization of drugs, defund the police, or any other Progressive brainstorm from the past decade or more. As far as this article in concerned this is an isolated incident that has no bearing on anything else. And since the miscreants have been arrested, you should not worry about anything and go about your day.

I wonder what the bail situation is in San Francisco. Will they be/have they been turned back out on the streets to commit more crime?

When you eliminate fear of repercussions for crime, you will see more crime.

What Were You Doing at Age 11?

I'm guessing violent assault was not on the list of things to do. 11-Year-Old Black Boy Was Part of Group That Brutally Beat Elderly Asian Woman in San Francisco: Police

An 11-year-old black boy was part of a group of ‘youths’ that brutally beat a 70-year-old Asian woman in San Francisco last Sunday.

The elderly Asian woman told ABC News that she didn’t venture out for 2 years because of Covid.

However, several black suspects beat her and even kicked her in the head on the day she decided to leave her home.

Aside from the 11-year-old, those youths included a 13-year-old black girl, a 14-year-old black girl, and an 18-year-old black man.

Two of the four have been caught, but because this is San Francisco, nothing will happen to them because Social Justice doesn't allow for hate crimes against Asians to be prosecuted.

Everybody I Disagree With is Racist

I wonder if the Progressives really believe this, or if they know it is BS. The Other McCain brings us Way to Go, ‘White Supremacists’!

The San Francisco school board president was just recalled; she blamed "White Supremacists" for her loss. In San Francisco.

You probably didn’t realize “white supremacists” had taken over San Francisco, but that’s just how clever and sneaky they are.

When voters in San Francisco reject the Woke agenda, it might just be in trouble.

And her loss actually had a lot to do with her making the Asian community mad. But I guess Asians can be White Supremacists in the minds of Woke Progressives.

Click thru for details and commentary from Robert Stacy McCain.